Tugboat Granny
Tugboat Granny is a 1956 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng. Title The title is a play on Tugboat Annie, and this is the only Warner Bros. cartoon to bear Granny's name. Plot Granny and Tweety are happily piloting a rented tugboat in a harbor, singing a kiddie-song duet about the carefree joys of their activity. Sylvester hides in a fisherman's basket, but is attacked by a crab. He sees the boat carrying the canary chug past. Sylvester's attempts, all unsuccessful, include the following: * Using a rowboat to get to the tug. Tweety drops anchor in the boat's hull, sinking Sylvester (though he comes out onto the beach still rowing with the oars). * Using an inflatable raft, which is deflated by Tweety's dart ("Hey, puddy tat! Wook what I found! Here, you can have it!"). * Two attempts at jumping off the bridge. The first jump is mistimed, as Sylvester lands in the smokestack, leaving him with his rear end on fire. A follow-up attempt from another bridge to parachute onto the boat's deck ("Oh, that bad ol' puddy tat! He never give up!") results in a jammed pack, which only opens after Sylvester sinks to the bottom of the canal ("Aww, the poor puddy tat. Got himself all soaking wet."). * Using a snorkel to swim to the boat. A seagull finds Sylvester's pipe the perfect resting place (blocking the airway); the cat is left holding the egg. * Driving a motorboat, but Sylvester drives instead into the rapids and over a waterfall. * A lasso ("That puddy tat thinks he a cowboy!"), which instead grabs the antenna of a speedboat. Sylvester decides to show off several waterskiing tricks ... until the inattentive puddy smashes into a pole. As he floats upside-down, a fish gurgles Tweety's signature line: "I tawt I taw a puddy tat." Availability * VHS - The Looney Tunes Video Show, Volume 5 * VHS - Classic Collection (WHSmith Exclusive Video) (United Kingdom only) * VHS - Looney Tunes Presents: Tweety: Tweet and Lovely * Streaming - Boomerang App Notes * Granny only appears in the opening scene. * Some of the scenes would later be recycled in a Pink Panther cartoon called "Reel Pink", due to the fact that some of the Warner Bros. animators would establish DePatie-Freleng Enterprises as well as being hired by United Artists to create Pink Panther and other cartoons eight years later. References Further Reading * Friedwald, Will and Jerry Beck. "The Warner Brothers Cartoons." Scarecrow Press Inc., Metuchen, N.J., 1981. ISBN 0-8108-1396-3. External Links * * Nuance and Suggestion in the Tweety and Sylvester Series - Written by Kevin McCorry * "Tugboat Granny" on the SFX Resource Category:1956 Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng Category:Tweety Cartoons Category:Sylvester Cartoons Category:Granny Cartoons Category:Shorts Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts Category:Cartoons written by Warren Foster Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons with layouts by Hawley Pratt Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Irv Wyner Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by June Foray Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer